Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days

Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days (2005) Brian K. Vaughan

I picked this up several months ago (before Christmas), but like other books, was putting off reading it until I had time only for something short to read.

Then I forgot I had it.

It was the name of the series, which first caught my eye, for several reasons, most of which I’m not going to discuss right now. However, anyone whose received e-mail from me should realize that I’m interested in Latin–learning it one phrase at a time. I think I’m up to, like, six whole phrases by now, and Deus Ex Machina happens to be one of them.

Mitchell Hundred has the ability to control machines. The First Hundred Days tells of the accident that gave him that ability, how he initially tried to use his powers, and how he ended up mayor of New York.

The story is interesting, and the idea behind the story is one that’s fascinated me for awhile. (I really want the ability to plug my brain directly into a computer. Only without the painful jamming pointy objects directly into the back of my skull bits.) What if we could communicate directly with machines. What could we do? What would we learn?

I’m still not quite sure where he’s going with the story, and I’m not sure how I feel about most of the main characters. I really like Kremlin, and I really like Dave Wylie, but I’m not so sure about the rest of ’em. There is a lot of back story to cover, so I found things a bit confusing, as we’d get a small bit of information, and I’d get interested in a story line, and then jump backwards or forwards in time. I found it a bit frustrating.

But despite the frustrating, it was interesting, and I’m curious as to where they’re going with this, so I’ll keep on reading.
Rating: 7/10

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